Following the toppling of Mohamed Morsi last summer, thousands of his Islamist supporters remained camped out in two tent cities on either side of Cairo.

Why, they often asked visiting international reporters, were
there no Egyptian journalists covering their protest? From their
point of view, there only ever appeared to be one major Arab
network broadcasting from the camp - the Qatari-owned Al
Jazeera.

This week the network appeared to be paying the price for its
devotion to reporting the story of Egypt's embattled Islamists.

On Wednesday the Egyptian authorities referred 20 of the
network's reporters to trial in a case which human rights groups
have warned will pose a serious threat to journalists working in
post-revolutionary Egypt.

"It is very disturbing," said Kirsty Hughes, chief executive of
Index on Censorship. "It looks like a full-scale attempt to
intimidate journalists and press freedom." The bare facts of the
case make for stark reading. The 20 defendants, including four
foreigners, were charged with joining or aiding a terrorist
organisation and endangering national security.

The identities of all the accused have not yet been made public.
But they include three men working for Al Jazeera English who were
detained in December when security forces raided their Cairo hotel
room.

Peter Greste, an award-winning Australian reporter, was one of
those arrested during the raid, along with Mohammed Fahmy, a
Canadian-Egyptian, and producer Baher Mohamed, an Egyptian. Two
Britons and a Dutch citizen have also been charged, although their
identities are still unclear.

Listing its accusations in a statement, prosecutors said that
the 20 journalists used two suites in a Cairo hotel to establish a
media centre for the Muslim Brotherhood - a group which last month
was declared a terrorist organisation by the Egyptian
authorities.

The statement added that the defendants had "manipulated
pictures" to create "unreal scenes to give the impression to the
outside world that there is a civil war that threatens to bring
down the state". They also allegedly broadcast scenes to aid the
Muslim Brotherhood "in achieving its goals and influencing the
public opinion".

Al Jazeera cameraman Mohammed Badr appeared in a Cairo court in December; 20 more of the channel's employees face criminal charges (AP)Observers said that the decision to try journalists on
terror-related charges is unprecedented.

Human-rights workers have also heaped scorn upon the
accusations. "It's a huge campaign to attack press freedom," said
Gamal Eid, director of the Cairo-based Arabic Network of Human
Rights Information (ANHRI). "To work for Al Jazeera or any other
news organisation is not a crime."

But the decision to charge the Al Jazeera reporters - which
comes after a wave of arrests targeting politicians and activists
who have dared to criticise the leaders of the current regime - is
no ordinary example of authoritarian oppression.

The arrests are but one part of a wider crackdown on the
now-banned Muslim Brotherhood, which has seen hundreds of the
organsation's members killed and many more go underground for fear
of arrest. The crackdown has drawn international condemnation. But
in a rare voice of support for current administration, Tony Blair
called for the international community to get behind the leadership
in the country, after a meeting on Wednesday with military chief
Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

During an interview with Sky News Arabia, Mr Blair, who had
previously given his backing to Hosni Mubarak, accused the Muslim
Brotherhood of "taking the country away from its basic values of
hope and progress". He gave his support to the actions of the
military, who helped to depose Mohamed Morsi last July, saying they
had acted "at the will of the people".

Analysts say it is rooted in a bitter enmity between the
Egyptian authorities and the Qatari royal family - an enmity born
out of the intricate geo-political rivalries of the Middle East,
and which has grown even more corrosive due to the vagaries of
Egypt's chaotic insurrection.

Even before last summer's popular coup against Mohamed Morsi, Al
Jazeera had a reputation among many Egyptians for promulgating a
world view perceived as being overtly favourable towards the Muslim
Brotherhood.

"It was blatantly a channel that pretty obviously chose a line
which matched the Brotherhood's," said Sherif Taher, a leading
member of the secular Al Wafd Party. "It was not something they
were trying to hide. They were aligned with them 100 per cent."

But following the military putsch against Mohamed Morsi, when
the army ousted Egypt's first democratically elected leader
following a wave of popular protest, the channel's tone grew even
more strident - giving succour to embattled Islamists, but enraging
the growing number of critics, both in government and on the
street.

"Their coverage on the Arabic channel was disgusting," said
Sultan al Qassemi, a political commentator based in the UAE. "I
would be watching Al Jazeera Arabic and I would want to give them a
call to let them know how ridiculous they were being."

Even fellow employees of the media group had concerns. "The
coverage on the Arabic channel was terrible," said one former
reporter for Al Jazeera English - the widely respected sister
channel which works under separate management.

The origins of Al Jazeera's editorial line can be traced back to
the strategic predilections of the Qatari royal family, a dynasty
which since the start of the Arab uprisings has committed itself to
riding in political pillion with the Muslim Brotherhood.

Analysts have admitted to being mystified as to why Qatar -
almost alone among its Islamist-fearing neighbours - decided to set
itself on such a track. But the most convincing theory is that the
ruling sheikhs, desperate for political clout, believed that the
Brothers could help them flex some regional muscle.

"Qatar saw itself as being on the right side of history," said
Sultan al Qassemi, who explained that the emirate's rulers had
believed the Brothers to be enjoying a regional renaissance. "But
maybe the decision was on the wrong side of their interests."